Today was the fastest different so far. So fast I didn’t even have time to get scared. Maybe a little nervous. But not much.
First floor— ground floor. Seventeen stories from the top. That had been one of the things Ella and I had a disagreement about. I wanted it to be a four-story building and she wanted it to be forty-four. We compromised on eighteen.
Ella and I brushed through the doors of the downtown office tower and waited by the bank of elevators on the ground floor. All around us were people waiting to get on and go up. I snuck a discreet sideways glance. Amongst the crowd there was an impatient older man with a bulging briefcase of files. A young woman reading a well-worn book. A middle-aged woman checking her phone and nervously biting her nails. The doors opened and we rushed inside. They reached around me and pressed the buttons of their preferred floor.
The elevators doors closed. I quickly reached out and pressed every button from Floor 3 to 18. The panel lit up. It looked just like a summer fireworks display! My heart was racing, and I wondered if the people behind me were judging me. Ha! Who cares? Judge away.
I stifled the laughter rising up in my throat. Couldn’t even look at Ella because I knew I would lose it. Hurry up, hurry up. Get to Floor 3! My brain was burning. Like when you eat a huge scoop of ice cream and then get that nasty painful brain freeze feeling.
Ping! The doors opened at Floor 3. Ella shoved me hard from behind and we spilled out in the hallway. As the elevator doors closed, I saw the people inside look at the panel. Shock? Disgust? One of them rolled their eyes. The elevator doors closed and Ella and I ran down the hall laughing hysterically. Happy riding!
—jpxd
90 Days of Different 